Roland Fantom X series vs. Roland Fantom G series?

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JohnSell

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Thinking about making an investment in a fantom to use a sound module for my mpc 2kxl. Played a G6 the other day at a guitar center and the thing was just unbeliveable, as was the price ($2600) :(

Then i saw the X series was much cheaper. I like seperate hardware that i could actually use as one unit, so im probably gonna buy an actuall workstation rather then the rack unit. So heres the question

Besides price whats the big difference between a Fantom G series and a Fantom X series? And is it worth putting down the extra cash to get a G series? Thanks
 
as an owner of the G series...it was WELL worth the hefty price..im still amazed at the things it does -

i saved 10 mins in the studio trying 2 get my guitar player into pro tools by just having him record his performance str8 into the fantom

it really depends on what u wanna do what ur budget is looking like
 
JohnSell said:
Thinking about making an investment in a fantom to use a sound module for my mpc 2kxl. Played a G6 the other day at a guitar center and the thing was just unbeliveable, as was the price ($2600) :(

Then i saw the X series was much cheaper. I like seperate hardware that i could actually use as one unit, so im probably gonna buy an actuall workstation rather then the rack unit. So heres the question

Besides price whats the big difference between a Fantom G series and a Fantom X series? And is it worth putting down the extra cash to get a G series? Thanks
Click to expand...

Biggest Differences off the top of my head:

1. Fantom G can have 16 insert FX per patch, Fantom X can only have three.
2. Fantom G cant use SRX cards while the X can. However, the G has a "best of" collection of SRX patches and can load new ARX cards.
3. Fantom G has a new sequencer.

In the long run, the Fantom G will last you longer.
 
If you just want sounds and track into a DAW like Pro Tools, get the X.
 
Thanks for all the help, I think im gonna go for the G series, i been seeing some good prices on ebay and im gonna save up. The thing just looks unbelivable, like an all in one.

One more question, do any of you guys use a g series fantom with an MPC, if so hows the workflow.
 
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JohnSell as the owner of a fantom-x.... i think youll kick yourself for droppin anything over 2grand for the G. The stuff these ppl all said was cool but what they didnt say is that u can find an X for about 900 or so maybe even fully maxed out on the street... that in addition to the korg m50 which goes for bout a grand or even the motif xs rack (nearly 20,000 arps and zillions of motif sounds) which is about 1100-1300.... So for the price of the G even at retail.. you could buy 1 killer workstation (the X) PLUS an accompanying rack or even another workstation (which u may jus use for the sounds) and STILL have money for headphones, cables, maybe a mic, keyboard stand... Until the price of the G comes down around the price of the Motif XS and Korg M3, is DEF not worth it, DEF.

Any true Roland head will tell you the G sounds good, but not as good as the X maxxed out..hella compression on the instruments. ALSO.. ur gonna sequence wit the MP, so **** that **** dude is tellin u bout the seq. ALSO... I've been havin dudes record guitar and miced drums or percussion into my X.... it has str8 Audio tracks in that mug jus like PT or Logic. No disrespect to anyone who wrote in... but I'll tell you this.... The newest dont always mean better AND let him cop that Fantom G and if he doesnt like it, watch how hard it'll be to find someone to take that brick off ur hands at a decent price!!! Wonder why ur seeing them on ebay flying at decent prices right???? Obviously muf****az don't like them all that much (not to say there arent people who get some if not alot of use out of them)... I jus mean it took me yrs to see good prices on the X and only now that it has a bigger brother are the prices starting to come down. Tritons, Motifs saturated the market so they're always found... X's were a dime a dozen at a good price... I have the X and i bought it WHEN the G came out cuz my big homey my main producer/engineer has the G and i hated navigating it, even with the mouse n ****. Cop the X and be happy bro...
 
I had both and honestly, the G is not worth the price for what you get. The new G OS helps sequencing easy, but other than that the sounds are basically the same on as the x, except at least you can expand the x with the srx cards. If they add more stuff in future updates and release more sounds like korg did with M3 and most important drop the price, I might buy it again, but for now the x is good enuff. Unfortunately, alot of these keyboard companies are just coming up with new "tricks" like color screens and editing features and not sound quality.
 
If you don't have either to begin with, the G is cool, but I honestly kind of favor the X. I have the X rack and after playing the G, the sounds straight out the box are typical Roland and not much better than the X. Actually, the grand pianos are worse as the X had some good ones and the G grands suck. I can't comment on the 16 effects cause I haven't messed with them in the store, but to me the effects on the x kind of suck in comparison to Korg and Yamaha's effects.

To me on the Trion series, a thin wack pad could be dressed up with factory reverb, chorus, etc.......with Roland a wack patch is hard to dress up with their effects. I think the X is a better value right now as cats are trying to unload x6's for around 1000
 
youngjboy said:
If you don't have either to begin with, the G is cool, but I honestly kind of favor the X. I have the X rack and after playing the G, the sounds straight out the box are typical Roland and not much better than the X. Actually, the grand pianos are worse as the X had some good ones and the G grands suck. I can't comment on the 16 effects cause I haven't messed with them in the store, but to me the effects on the x kind of suck in comparison to Korg and Yamaha's effects.

To me on the Trion series, a thin wack pad could be dressed up with factory reverb, chorus, etc.......with Roland a wack patch is hard to dress up with their effects. I think the X is a better value right now as cats are trying to unload x6's for around 1000
Click to expand...

yeah, def true. out the box, the G doesnt sound as impressive as the XS or M3. Roland needs to bring the price of their SRX cards down.
 
To me, when I first saw the Fantom G at guitar center that thing looked like a beast! But after playing with it, all I really noticed was the sounds were a bit different than the Fantom X. The interface, buttons, knobs, etc. have all been giving a facelift and that's it. For the price of $2600 it's just way too much when I can get almost the same value with the Fantom X. Especially in these tough times. I have the Fantom X and love it. It gets the job done. Bought mine two years ago and I'm still learning new things on it so imagine. It's just getting better and better.

To me I think Roland is just trying to make money off people by simply changing the buttons, interface, etc. and pouting about the gazillion new features it has just to have people drop more money on their new keyboard. If your using only the sounds, then just get the Fantom X. Trust me you won't be dissapointed. The only reason I would get the Fantom G is if your going to be doing everything on the keyboard itself. Other than that get the Fantom X, with the sounds on it, you won't be dissapointed.
 
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The X was a good machine capable of many things. It had its limits (the number of Insert FX comes to mind, along with the fact that the sampling is implement kind of crappily). In terms of features, the G has improvements (such as the effects processors, 24 audio tracks vs 8 on the X, the huge screen obviously) - but I feel it has a lot of potential which is unrealized.

But like others said - the X is still something to seriously consider, especially at the prices you can get an X6.

As far as sounds go...please, Roland has been recycling sounds since the JV series so that's nothing new ;)
 
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Just came across this thread and indirectly it's of interest to me.

I have a Korg M3 and was looking to trade it for a Fantom G however someone just offered me a Fantom X8 in a straight swap for my M3. Now, I do like the M3 but to me it's lacking in a few area's. First up, the acoustic sounds are not great, the guitars especially. The pianos have improved with the Xpanded upgrade but the use of expensive..for us in the uk...proprietary memory for the sampler expansion is a real pain in the butt. Plus of course you can only expand it to 320mb which is a bit lame these days. Also Karma 2, fantastic as it no doubt is, is something I just never use.

So my question for you guys is. Is the Fantom X8 in any way a good deal over the Korg M3 61 ? or should I hang out for a G6?
 
This is a good topic you guys are discussing.
Personaly its been 2 weeks I'm reading about Roland and Korg and I'm still debating wether to get Korg M3 or Roland Fantom G6???
I can get get the Brand new Fantom G6 for 1450 instead of 2300 bucks. and Korg M3 somewhere around the same price from work (gonna check the employee price tomorrow).
So i was wondering considering the fact that they are both workstation and under 2K, which one is a more successful workstation and has better/easier user interface, I honestly dont care about the touch screen of M3.
I am more attracted towards Roland G6 for some reason...
Thanks
 
I actually ended up with a Fantom X6 in the end. Reason I went for it is I had sold the M3 for £1000 and then this deal came up for the Fanom X6 at £780. Now that's pretty near top price for an X6 these days however, this one came fitted with 4 Srx expansion cards! Taking into account those cards are around £225 new here in the UK it doesn't take much of a mathematician to work out this is not actually a bad deal?

I'm still looking at the Fantom G but at the moment it's way too much money for me, although a used one is a possibility.

As regards the M3 vs the Fantom G, if you take the Karma out of the equation..and most people do as they never get to grips with it, the Fantom G is actually..to my mind, a much better buy. The ability to switch sounds live without any noticeable gap is a big plus for those of you who do play live. You can't do that on the M3 or many other keyboards out there. Also the inclusion of a XLR connector on the back with phantom power is of interest to me as my mic requires that and it would save me laying out for another audio interface.

Not sure the dropping of the SRX cards was a good idea as it means people have to stump up for the new format cards and their existing investment in cards may be redundant. Still I guess to progress some things need to be left behind.

I have heard many people say that a fully loaded Fantom X is more powerful and useful than the Fantom G....but maybe they are Fantom X owners trying to make themselves feel better? ;)

For now I'll play around with the Fantom X for a while. I did actually own one back in 2006 so it's quite familiar territory for me. I think though I'll probably sell it on eventually and perhaps upgrade to a Fantom G. Time will tell.
 
JohnSell said:
Thanks for all the help, I think im gonna go for the G series, i been seeing some good prices on ebay and im gonna save up. The thing just looks unbelivable, like an all in one.

One more question, do any of you guys use a g series fantom with an MPC, if so hows the workflow.
Click to expand...


Yeh playa...don't waste your money on the G. I have the Fantom X6 and I maxxed my baby out. I bought mine a couple years prior to the G coming out and I got a great deal on it. I have the memory maxxed and I have maxxed the SRX cards too. I picked the ones most useful to my productions needs. I even use my Fantom X to do alot of things that I keep a secret so that my workflow and style will be original.

I was in position to get the G and I went to their promo thing when they came to my city. I noticed that the G has added some features but truthfully not for the price tag. Not when I can get the new Motif XF or the M3 for decent pricing.

Besides if your sequencing in the MPC you can do a bit of sequencing in the fantom and sync it to your mpc and then get busy that way. Or of course the fave nowadays a dedicated DAW. You'll save more coin and you'll congratulate yourself for being so smart that you grabbed a maxxed out X versus a brand new over-priced G....
 
I did actually get a Fantom G eventually. It's a custom white G6 and a fantastic bit of kit :) However I would not pay new prices for one. At retail in comparison to a used X6 for example then the X wins out without a doubt but at the price I paid it was a no brainer. I'm not sure I will ever sell my G6 as it does everything I need of a keyboard and I absolutely LOVE that big display! :)
 
As regards the M3 vs the Fantom G, if you take the Karma out of the equation..and most people do as they never get to grips with it, the Fantom G is actually..to my mind, a much better buy. The ability to switch sounds live without any noticeable gap is a big plus for those of you who do play live. You can't do that on the M3 or many other keyboards out there. Also the inclusion of a XLR connector on the back with phantom power is of interest to me as my mic requires that and it would save me laying out for another audio interface.
 
I purchased my X8 back in 2005 shortly after they came out. I use it for multiple church related applications and still use it today. I am glad i stumbled accross this thread as i was considering replacing the X but by the looks of it the G wont be able to do what i can currently do with the X.

Primarily, the X functions as a stage keyboard. It is the lead intrument in the band. Once or twice a year i use its sampling capability and performances for skits. Loading the board up with clips off the internet, samples of actors vocals and assign them all to the pads. Using the hold function, i am able to set a scene in a city, noise and all, background music and the actors vocals with effects so you "hear there thoghts" all using the pads.

I do want to mentioned two things here too. First, i too have my X maxed out on memory and also use the media storage slot in the back. With an adapter i can use Digital Camera Memory cards allowing me to store samples as large as the card can handle. I think i have one 1gb card right now in the unit containing patch samples i obtained off the internet and various sound effect samples and loops for skits.

Also, not all of the JV-80 sounds were carried over into the SRX series. I purchased 7 cards for my JV-2080 before i purchased the X. Some of those sounds did not carry over. So i use the Fantom X to control the JV-2080 and pipe the JV-2080 back into the Fantom using the external audio input to "mix" it into my playing. There is this awesome choir sound i love that did not carry over from the JV-80 Vocal collection to the SRX collection. I add this sound to various pads to thicken them. I do not add it enough so you can hear its a choir but it does thicken the sound.

Both the JV sound library and XV library (factory one - not exapansion) are available for download and you can actually load any of these sounds into the Fantom X. One thing i did notice is that the sounds are just not as good as the original. They are missing something. Example: SA Piano on JV-2080 sounds better than the imported SA Piano into the Fantom X. By the way, this is free. I dont remember where i got it from but it has been a few years.

Just wanted to give you guys some ideas for getting more out of your Fantom X. Thanks and enjoy.
 
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